About the Blog

Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights, a blog hosted by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), is a unique resource for journalists, policymakers, scholars, activists and others interested in understanding Venezuelan politics and human rights.

The contributors call it as they see it, providing insights on Venezuela’s politics that go beyond the polarized pro-Chavismo/anti-Chavismo debate. The views expressed in the posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect WOLA’s institutional positions.

The Bloggers

David Smilde, curator of the blog, is a WOLA Senior Fellow and the Charles A. and Leo M. Favrot Professor of Human Relations at Tulane University. He has lived in or worked on Venezuela since 1992. He is co-editor of Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy: Participation, Politics and Culture under Chávez (Duke 2011).

Geoff Ramsey is WOLA’s Associate for Venezuela. He is an avid observer of the situation in Venezuela—having helped coordinate WOLA’s response to and coverage of the December 2015 legislative elections from Caracas—as well as a regular contributor to WOLA’s Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights blog.

About WOLA

WOLA is a leading research and advocacy organization advancing human rights in the Americas.

The Carcel de Carabobo was not a prison but a police jail. These are supposedly temporary jails for recently arrested people, while they wait for their trail. The population is usually younger, their crimes are minor—mainly robbery or car theft, and 80% have not had their day in court.

They are often considered safer and less desirable than prisons and inmates’ families often pay bribes to keep them there as long as possible.

The jail had 378 prisoners, including 248 regular prisoners and 130 police officers in another wing. In a space for 80 people.

Families are saying that not all of them died from fire or smoke, some have gunshot wounds or other injuries. It happened on the morning of Wednesday, March 28. It seems clear that as a result of a confrontation with guards there was a riot that led either the prisoners or the guards set fire to objects that then went out of control.

Venezuela has 50-60k prisoners in a system with a capacity of roughly half that. This overcrowding is the result not just of not building enough jails, but of a completely dysfunctional justice system. Over the past decade hundreds of judges have been replaced by provisional judges without tenure, which means they can be removed at any time, and are completely dependent. In that context they have little autonomy and little motivation to get through their cases. As a result the rate of trial fulfillment in Venezuela is one of the lowest in the region. You keep your job by demonstrating loyalty to the party, not by expeditiously carrying out your job. The same is true of prosecutors—the great majority are provisional and have no autonomy.

Sanctions

Switzerland froze the accounts of seven officials because of human rights violations and the breakdown of the rule of law and democratic institutions. They essentially apply the EU sanctions to Switzerland (which is not a member of the EU). This is very important because of Switzerland’s tradition of neutrality and because it is the preeminent place to park illicit money because of its tradition of banking secrecy.

Panama emitted a list of 55 of the most important officials and enterprises in Venezuela. This was justified as their being high risk for money laundering and other illicit activities. The effect is to freeze their accounts and prohibit entry. Mariano de Alba argues they effectively found a way to carryout sanctions within their legislation.

The first Latin American country to do so, which is itself an important breakthrough. And Panama is important for the same reason Switzerland is, indeed it is often called the “Switzerland of the Americas.” 2 years ago the Panama Papers showed extensive financial involvement of Venezuelan officials in Panamanian offshore and shell companies.